Bears dominated by Vikings, 34-14

Well the Bears were previously 2-0 on Sunday night games and I was confident they were going to make it 3-0 tonight. Wow was I wrong.

I’m tired of this Jekyll-and-Hyde bullshit with the Bears. One week they look good, the next week awful. I’m not even counting last week’s game against the Rams as a “good” game because I think the Iowa Hawkeyes could beat the Rams.

Tonight was awful. The Bears got outplayed in every facet of the game. Coaching, offense, defense, special teams, passion, enthusiam, etc.

The same issues that have been plaguing the Bears all season reared their ugly head again tonight.

My thoughts:

How many times are receivers going to drop passes? Catch the damn ball. Rashied Davis dropped at least 3 passes, he seriously needs to be benched. Where is Brandon Rideau? The guy was a stud in the preseason and doesn’t see a lick of game action.

Why is Kyle Orton forcing the ball to Devin Hester? I felt like every other throw was intended for Hester. Just because on the third play of the game he turned a slant route into a 65-yard touchdown doesn’t mean the guy is an All-Pro receiver. Orton threw 3 interceptions, and I just don't think he's 100 percent out there. This is not the same Kyle Orton before the injury.

Because Hester is getting so much action at receiver, he is very ineffective at punt returns now. He’s got to stop dancing around when he catches the ball and just pick a hole and go forward. He loses more yards than gains when he does that crap.

The defense couldn’t tackle again tonight, as has been the issue all season. You are taught in 4th grade to wrap up when tackling, and numerous defenders didn’t wrap up.

Remember the one run by Adrian Peterson where he was in the grasp of about 3 defenders and then spun out and ran it for 50 yards? Perfect example right there.

THE BIGGEST PLAY(S) OF THE GAME WERE WHEN THE BEARS COULDN’T SCORE WHEN THEY HAD 1ST AND GOAL FROM THE 3-YARD LINE. 1ST PLAY AFTER THE VIKINGS GET THE BALL IT’S A 99-YARD TOUCHDOWN PASS TO BERNARD BERRIAN. MOMENTUM TO MINNESOTA, GAME ALL BUT OVER, MINNESOTA IS THE LEADER OF THE NFC NORTH.

Lovie do something, anything! Light a fire under your team. Or risk not making the playoffs.

Which is a better system in determining the national champion in collegiate sports, the BCS or a playoff system like March Madness???

Before you guys all start saying I’m nuts for even asking this question, hear me out.

While the BCS system is sports fan’s favorite whipping boy, I can argue that it really works.

Why the BCS works (and why a college football playoff wouldn’t)
-A college football playoff would ruin, if not destroy, the traditional bowl system. The bowl system allows 56 teams, nearly one-half of division I-A teams to stamp their season a success by reaching the postseason. If an eight or 16 team playoff occurs, 20 of those teams would get squeezed out of bowl games.

-A playoff would diminish interest in the regular season. College football’s regular season is the most meaningful and drama-filled in all of sports. With only two teams making it to the ‘championship’ game, there is little margin for error and every single week matters, whether it be in September or December. For example, this week’s game between Texas Tech and Oklahoma wouldn’t be nearly as important as it is now because both teams would most likely make the eight team playoff and still have a shot at the national championship. If Texas Tech loses on Saturday, they can kiss their national title hopes goodbye.

-With a playoff, the college game would become even more commercialized and professionalized. The regular season wouldn’t matter, and it would all be about positioning yourself for the playoffs. If a star player was 50/50 for the last game of the year or was slightly injured, he would be rested for the playoffs, just like it happens in the NFL all the time.
If an eight or 16 team playoff occurred, would anyone even care to watch the other bowls? Would an Iowa-Virginia Tech Insight Bowl (which could happen this year) matter to anyone besides Iowa or VA Tech fans? Nope. I sure as hell know I wouldn’t want to watch Maryland and South Carolina in the Gator Bowl because that game wouldn’t matter.

-Big time BCS bowl games generate major revenue for universities and their respective conferences. For example, if the Big Ten gets two teams into the BCS this year they are going to make $10 million plus. That’s a huge payout for the conference and for the schools going to BCS games.

-It tries to guarantee the top two teams play in the championship game every year. The odds of USC-Texas playing for the national title in basketball in 2005 like it did in football would have been very slim with all the upsets that occur. These were the best two teams in the nation that season, and it turned out to be what call the greatest college football game of all-time.


Why March Madness works (and the BCS doesn’t)
-The 64-team tournament gives fans what they want: a true champion decided on the court (not by polls and computers like in college football).

-March Madness is a lot fairer than narrowing the championship game down to two teams. For the few times the BCS has gotten it right, (USC-Texas) there have been plenty of times it’s been wrong. How could Nebraska jump Oregon in 2001? How could USC be left out in 2003 in favor of an Oklahoma team that got routed by Kansas State in the Big 12 title game? The game is played on the court in college basketball, and while upsets do happen, the majority of the time the top teams advance to the Elite 8 or the Final Four.

-Fans love it: the brackets, the toughest road to the Final Four, office pools across the country. Who isn’t into March Madness?? Even people who don’t follow college basketball during the regular season and could care less about it fill out a bracket and follow the three crazy weeks that ensue.

The top 10 March Madness buzzer beaters, courtesy of ESPN
-College basketball is played in both semesters of an academic year and there are no problems there. I don’t understand all the bitching from school officials saying that a playoff would tax the players too much and affect their studies. If you cut the regular season down to eleven games an eight team playoff would be three extra games at most, two for the teams that make it to the semi-finals. 14 games played for the national championship as opposed to 13 after playing in a bowl game. That’s a crock of shit. Basketball players play 35 games during the season and then another 6 if they play in the national title game. The season goes from early November through early April. I think college football can go from early September through mid-January.

-Even certain athletic directors and former college football coaches are wising up and clamoring for a college football playoff, similar to March Madness.

"I've looked at the Big 12's 10-year revenue projections — basketball television, basketball tournament, football championship game — and (most) percentage increases range from 20%-50%. Postseason football is like 2.6%. And you're thinking, 'Our bell cow, our big money producer, is going to generate 2%-3% more in 10 years. People ought to be in jail.' "
— Texas athletics director DeLoss Dodds

"Surely, the NCAA and Division I-A football can join the other 23 intercollegiate sports and devise a system that determines a true champion, preserves the integrity of the game and levels the playing field."
— Retired Brigham Young football coach LaVell Edwards, to the Senate Judiciary Committee last October

I WANT TO HEAR YOUR OPINION!! POST YOUR COMMENTS!!!!!!

Bears humiliated by Packers

Thank god the Vikings lost to the Bucs today. After the Bears got destroyed by the Packers 37-3, they are tied with the Pack and Vikings at 5-5 atop the NFC North. The Bears are LUCKY they play in such a shitty division.

The big question that Lovie Smith needs to answer IMMEDIATELY IS: What happened to the Super Bowl defense of two years ago?

Not only did the Bears not stop the pass (they haven’t all season), but they couldn’t stop the running game as Ryan Grant ran for 145 yards and a touchdown. Grant had only rushed for over 100 yards one game the entire season and was averaging 3.6 yards a carry. Today? He averaged 5.8 yards a carry and was constantly getting into the second level, being tackled by a defensive back.

Kyle Orton struggled today and was only 13/26 for 133 yards. I think he just wasn’t ready to play and was seen hobbling on his ankle multiple times.


Maybe Grossman should have gotten another start who knows? I am personally happy Orton was out there after Grossman’s performance last week. Orton should get re-evaluated this week and we’ll go from there.

But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that the Bears defense has gone from a top 5team in 2006 to 28th in 2007 to 19th so far this year.

How do you hold Chris Johnson and LenDale White to a combined 20 yards last week and then let the Packers run for 200 yards?

And if I were a fantasy football owner I would always start my quarterback against the Bears. After making Kerry Collins look like the best quarterback in the league last week, Aaron Rodgers was 23-30 for 227 yards and 2 touchdowns.

This was the same Aaron Rodgers who threw 0 touchdowns and 150 yards last week and was constantly running for his life as the Vikings defenders were always in the backfield.

I don’t know if it’s the players or the defensive scheme but something’s got to change. Troy Aikman and Joe Buck both said that Ron Rivera didn’t get enough credit for what he did in 2006.

Ever since Bob Babich took over last year the defense hasn't been as good. It’s the same players but a different coordinator. Hmmm…….

Another important point. Where are you Devin Hester? Do you care about punt and kick returning anymore? Or are you trying to be the next star receiver?

The more work Hester gets at receiver, the less effective he is as a kick and punt returner. Hester might evolve into a great slot receiver in the next couple of years, but the Bears desperately need his electrifying returns that in the past resulted in touchdowns and great field position.

In the past couple of games, teams haven’t kicked away from him. They kick it to him because he hasn’t done anything with it. Below, Hester is trying to make a sic acrobatic catch. He didn't.

Lovie and special teams coordinator Dave Taub need to discuss this situation ASAP.

If Hester is still ineffective they have to consider putting someone else at returner, maybe Garrett Wolfe?

The Bears are at St. Louis next week in what looks to be a must win game because I don’t see the Bears winning the following Sunday at Minnesota with this type of performance.

The sweet joy of……little league baseball

3 balls 2 strikes. 2 outs. Runners on first and second, bottom of the sixth inning. I’m up to bat in the championship game with over 200 fans watching. My hands are sweating and I have to call timeout to step out of the box to wipe them down.

The next pitch is fired in and I foul it off. I breathe a big sigh of relief and then step back to into the batter’s box.

The pitch is coming in and I hit the ball in between first and second for a base hit. One run scores and now we are only down three runs.

My buddy Eric comes up next and hits a double, scoring two runs to make it a one run game.

One more out and we lose the championship (since it’s a six-inning game). A couple more hits and we pull off the upset.

The next kid up, Lance, strikes out in four pitches and our rally comes up short.

The championship game and our magical run through the playoffs is what my buddy Eric and I talked about.

It was one of our favorite childhood sports memories. We played on the Cubs, a .500 team throughout the regular season which resulted in a pretty crappy seed.

It was our last year together (since we were in 8th grade) and no one thought we were going to make a run for the championship.

We slaughtered our first round opponent and then upset the #2 seed before playing the #5 seed Dodgers in the semifinals.

We were down 5-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning before rallying for four runs to take a 6-5 lead into the last inning. Eric came on to close the game and left the bases loaded and we escaped.

We moved on to the championship game to play the Tigers, who slaughtered the Giants in the other semifinal.

Eric and I both talked about how lucky we were to be a part of such a great ride and if we only could have won the championship it would have been that much sweeter.

“This definitely was my greatest sports memory growing up,” Eric said.

I couldn’t agree more.

We specifically talked about how nervous Lance was when he was “in the hole.” (meaning two batters away for you non-baseball people).

I could tell he didn’t want to come up to bat because he was going to shit his pants.

When he came up to the plate the crowd was going wild and I was hoping for a hit but new deep inside it wasn’t too be.

Eric was on second base and saw him swing and miss three times.

“It was awful,” Eric said. “He wasn’t even close to making contact.”

And that’s how our season ended. A great run for a mediocre team.

At least we made it farther than the real Cubs have the past two years, getting in the first round. Embarrassing!

Running, Live blog of Cardinals-Niners

7:30 CST: I'm doing a live in-game blog of the Arizona Cardinals vs. the San Francisco 49'ers on Monday Night Football. I wasn't able to do a live blog of the Bears game yesterday because I was out to lunch with my parents who came in for the weekend (how exciting I know). I had to skip out of my night class which doesn't end till 8:00 to watch this game. I hope it's not a blowout.

7:40: How many times are the announcers and ESPN analysts going to talk about Mike Singletary dropping his pants in front of his team? I know it's crazy but he did it to prove a point to his team.

7:42: Are you kidding me? Allen Rossum of the 49'ers returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown! Wow! Second longest kickoff return in 49'ers history, 98 yards. What a great start, now that's some excitement baby. That matches the second longest kickoff return to start a game in NFL history. I've witness history! wooh! 7-0 49'ers

7:44: Steve Breaston can't pull an Allen Rossum and returns the kickoff to the 25.

7:47: Warner 4-4 on the opening drive, ball on the 49er 12 yard line.

7:50: Cardinal's drive stalls, settle for a 27-yard field goal, 7-3 Niners. I'm already getting bored, not good.

7:56: 49'ers line up in the wildcat formation and former Penn State quarterback Michael Robinson runs for ten yards, first down. I wish the Hawkeyes would mix it up a bit and let internet legend DJK line up under center and run the ball a la McFadden.

8:05: I keep gettin text messages from this girl I met this past weekend, sooooo annoying.

8:15: Still 7-3 49'ers, 1:10 left in the 1st quarter. Kornheiser is just rambling about stuff that has nothing to do with the game. I love when the announcers do this, it just shows how bored they are.

8:20: The game went to a tv commercial, I flipped to the movie channels and watched American Pie for the past two minutes. It's the part where Finch hooks up with Stiffler's mom. I still don't know how he pulled that off.

8:22: 7-3 49'ers, end up 1st quarter.

8:25: Josh Morgan caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Shaun Hill. Touchdown, 49'ers. They go up 14-3.

8:30: Cardinals march right down the field and score to make it 14-10. Anquan Bolding catches a 13-yard pass from Kurt Warner.

8:34: ESPN announces that Matt Holliday gets traded to Oakland from Colorado. San Fran goes three and out, big stop for the Cardinal defense.

8:43: Fummbllllllleeeeee:Tim Hightower fumbles, but after further review the officials said the Cardinals recovered. Next play Warner connects with Boldin for a 20 yard gain.

8:51: Cardinals settle for a 33 yard Neil Rackers field goal, 14-13 Niners with 4:41 left in the 2nd quarter.

8:53: Kornheiser has gone from talking about how Singletary was such a great player to how Emmit Smith said that he would play for coach Singletary. Is this game between the Niners and Cardinals or a platform to rave about Singletary??

9:00: 49'ers quarterback Shaun Hill got his helmet rippped off and still dove forward another three yards for a first down. Singletary loved that and was shown clapping and applauding his quarterback. Yea Kornheiser, the Singletary effect is already taking place!!!

9:10: Touchdown Vernon Davis, 21-13 Niners. My roomates making some chicken nuggets in the oven and they smell delicious, I'm about to go get something to eat. I'll be right back folks.

9:45: I burned the frickin pizza. My apartment reaks right now. I can't even watch this game because I got my shirt up over my nose.

10:00: Anyways back to this game.........24-23 49'ers, 11:16 left in the 4th quarter. Cardinals driving, screen pass to Hightower. Cardinals into Niner territory.

10:20: Arizona interception by Adrian Wilson returned back to the 49er three yard line. Kurt Warner a 4-yard pass to Anquan Bolding. Touchdown Cardinals. They take the lead 29-24.

10:40: My buddy called me raving about the Iowa upset of Penn State. I told him it was old news and that I had to get back to watching this game.


11:03: Frank Gore gets the handoff, crawling, crawling to the goal line! Is he down? the play is under review. The official rules Gore was down by contact at the 2 and a half yard-line.
On 4th down, they hand the ball off to Michael Robinson who is stuffed at the goal line!! game over, Cardinals win 29-24.

11:05: Too bad the Niners lost, Kornheiser was saying if there was anything such as a moral victory this was it.

Grossman ineffective in Bears loss to Titans

The Bears held the powerful Titans rushing attack to 20 yards. 20 yards! And still lost the game, 21-14.

The defense has been vulnerable against the pass all year and was again today as Kerry Collins completed 30 of 41 passes for 289 yards and 2 TD’s.

But the offense ultimately cost the Bears this game.

Sexy Rexy had his first start at quarterback this season. And it was awful, as usual.

Why is he still on the Bears roster?

Grossman was 20-37 for 173 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT.
He missed wide-open receivers all game.

This loss pains me because it was such a winnable game. The past 3 or 4 games I was confident the offense could drive down the field and score points with Orton under center.

While watching the game today I had no confidence in Grossman to move the offense downfield, and he didn’t.

Grossman had 20 yards passing in the second and third quarters combined. 20 yards passing in two quarters? Is that a joke.

And what about the running game. Forte has 64 yards rushing at halftime, and only 8 in the second half.

He only got seven carries in the second half while getting thirteen in the first.
Why did Ron Turner abandon the running game?

Part of it has to do with the Titans having a great front seven. But still, I knew the Bears weren’t going to win the game with Grossman throwing the ball 37 times.

Lovie Smith was distraught and disappointed when conducting his post game interview.

Lovie said “it was a bad loss, especially when you lose on your home turf.”

Thatta baby Lovie, not making any excuses for Rex or the team.

Let’s all hope that Orton can get healthy this week for the big game at Lambeau next Sunday.

Breaking News: Orton hopes to play vs. Titans

Just three days after being carted off the field with an ankle injury, quaterback Kyle Orton hopes to play Sunday against the Titans.

Orton was relieved when tests revealed only a sprain.

"I'm certainly not ruling out anything," Orton said Wednesday. "I don't know exactly what the timetable's going to be, but I just feel if I keep on making improvement, I certainly can't rule out this week."

Several reports said Orton could miss up to a month with a high ankle sprain after he left Sunday's 27-23 victory over the Detroit Lions on a cart in the closing minute of the first half, but tests showed no fractures or tears. And he's seeing improvement each day.

"It's been a good couple days," said Orton, wearing a protective sleeve on his foot around Halas Hall.

The top 10 picks of the 2009 NFL Draft

In keeping with the top 10 list theme I decided to get creative here and predict the top 10 picks of the 2009 NFL draft based on current records to determine the draft order. Obviously things are going to change before the end of the season.

1. Detroit-Mark Sanchez, QB, USC
With John Kitna out for the season and Dan Orlovsky probably not the long-term solution at quarterback, the new management of the Lions will want to draft a quarterback for the future. It’s really a tossup between Sanchez and Stafford as to who the first qb drafted is.

2. Cincinnati-Michael Oher, OT, Ole Miss
The team was once searching for a defense to help out their explosive offense, now they need help pretty much everywhere. A front seven defender makes the most sense, but with none worthy of this pick, the Bengals land the franchise left tackle every team covets.

3. Kansas City-Matthew Stafford, QB, Georgia
This team is in desperate need of a quarterback. With Sanchez being taken number one, Stafford is the next best available quarterback. Some teams might have Stafford ahead of Sanchez on their draft board. The Chiefs finally land their franchise quarterback.

4. Oakland-Michael Johnson, DE, Georgia Tech
Johnson has as much potential as any defender in this draft, and could put on a show in the post season. He has had a solid season, but is still picked based on potential. The Raiders love big time athletes, and Johnson is pound for pound the best.

5. Seattle-Andre Smith, OL, Alabama
A WR is tempting here as both Crabtree and Maclin are available, but it is too high for either. So the Seahawks grab Walter Jones’ eventual replacement and a guy that could help out along the line immediately at guard or tackle.

6. Saint Louis-Malcolm Jenkins, CB, Ohio State
Jenkins is the top corner in the draft and arguably the best player on the board. That’s the ideal fit for a team looking for secondary help.

7. San Francisco-Michael Crabtree, WR, Texas Tech
The kid is a stud. He’ll bring the type of go to capability the 9ers have lacked since the days of Jerry Rice.


8. Houston-Jeremy Maclin, WR, Missouri
Texans happy to have this playmaker fall down to 8. Should form a potent 1-2 punch with Andre Johnson on the edge. Maclin is also a dangerous kick returner and can take it to the house on every kickoff.

9. Cleveland-Vontae Davis, CB, Illinois
Davis should provide some immediate help for a team that can’t defend the pass.

10. Jacksonville-James Lauranitis, LB, Ohio State
Laurinaitis should become a favorite of Jack Del-Rio immediately. His toughness and playmaking ability make him a great selection at this point.

Rex to the rescue

Bear nation went “Oh No” when Kyle Orton collapsed to the field after getting toppled by Lions defensive end Dewayne White.

Then Rex Grossman came into the game with the Bears down 23-13.

I thought the Bears season was over. If they lost this game with undefeated Tennessee coming to Soldier Field next week the Bears could have been looking at 4-5 on the year.

But Grossman threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Rashied Davis and ran in for another score with just over five minutes to go in the fourth quarter to give the Bears a 27-23 victory.

Matt Forte had his best game of the year with 126 yards rushing since the opening game against the Colts. He’s going to need to have more games like this in the next few weeks because I do not have confidence in Grossman. How many times is he going to get balls deflected and batted down at the line?

I’m amazed at the Jekyll-and-Hyde personality of the defense.

The first half they looked terrible, especially the second quarter. How do you let up 23 points in one quarter to the Lions?

Then in the second half the Bears defense was dominant, forcing two turnovers and holding the Lions scoreless.

According to defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek, the Bears didn’t alter their game plan or strategy on defense; they just played better.

“We didn’t change anything,” Dvoracek said. “In the second half we just said we’re going to play our base defense and we’re going to beat them, and we did.”

So the defense now thinks they can turn it on and off whenever they want to? If they don’t show major improvement next week they are going to get crushed by the Titans.

It doesn’t help that Mike Brown left the game in the second quarter with a calf injury. But then again who is really surprised that he got hurt, we all knew it was a matter of time.

A source close to Orton told ESPN's Michael Smith on Sunday that he will miss at least a month with a high ankle sprain. Let the Good Rex-Bad Rex debate begin in Chicago.

Let’s all hope and pray it’s the good Rex. If not, the Bears can kiss their postseason hopes goodbye.

For highlights of the game, click here.